


Up To No Good

by ironyruinedmylife



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: 13 Nights of Hartmon, Barry is so done, Gen, but bros - Freeform, caitlin is Furious, cisco and hartley are bros, harrison is a shady mf, not very secure bros, prank related shenanigans, staplers are lost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-08-23 16:15:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8334097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironyruinedmylife/pseuds/ironyruinedmylife
Summary: Slime, jelly, plastic spiders, oh my! There is a prankster in Star Labs, and everyone's money is on the teams newest and most reluctant member. Shenanigans and Halloween fun await, what could possibly go wrong?





	

“What’s happening, what's wrong?” Dr Wells asked hurriedly, wheeling into the Cortex after hearing Barry’s anguished scream. He looked around for the danger, blinking as he registered what was really going on; Barry was covered in orange slime. Dr Wells frowned, watching intently as Barry wiped his eyes and made a sound not unlike a dying cat.  
  
“It happened _again_.” The speedster groaned and _yes_ , he'd admit, somewhere deep inside him, Dr Wells was cackling at his nemesis’ misfortune, but that wasn’t relevant, what was relevant was if the security monitors were on and if Gideon had saved the footage for him to giggle at later.  
  
_Anyhow_.  
  
“You really should start checking the doorways before you come in.” He suggested instead of laughing. Barry gave him a look so cold Caitlin would be proud.  
  
“Oh _haha_ , lets all laugh at Barry, what _fun_.” He growled sarcastically, and Dr Wells might have enjoyed himself just a little bit listening to Barry's grumbling until Hartley walked into the Cortex, took one look at Barry and burst out laughing. Dr Wells raised an eyebrow at Barry’s betrayed look.  
  
When he had finally agreed to let Hartley out of the Pipeline, he hadn’t expected him and Barry to get along quite so well, he’d have to do something about that. But not today, today he was enjoying the sound of Hartley’s snickers and the sight of Barry’s utterly mortified face.  
  
“Fuck _directly_ off, Hartley.” Barry snarled eventually. Hartley tried valiantly not to laugh, but then Barry pulled a fake bat from his shirt collar, and Dr Wells watched as Hartley promptly turned on his heel and walked out, and they both pretended not to hear the loud cackling as he walked away. “Y’know its _got_ to be him doing this.”

Barry scowled at the floor as he lifted one foot and a loud squelch declared its presence.  
  
“I’m aware. Although why he’s chosen you as his target is beyond me.” Dr Wells mused. Barry shot him a flat look as he squelched towards the exit  
  
“You’re the _worst_ sometimes, y’know that?”  
  
“Of course.”

* * *

Caitlin glared at Hartley from where he sat, tapping away at his ever present tablet and chatting in French to his sister on the phone. She could not believe that after _everything_ he’d done, every week in the Pipeline, he’d have the sheer _nerve_ to do something like this. Then again, Hartley had always been a fan of Halloween, and of embarrassing people, although at the time she had put the Ronnie Incident (which was in no way responsible for the start of their relationship) down to just a distinct lack of tact.  
  
Caitlin glared at her stapler from where it sat in the middle of an orange, pumpkin shaped jelly.  
  
She looked back up at Hartley, who waved at her while he gossiped with his sister.  
  
_Unbelievable_.  
  
Caitlin sighed and rolled up her sleeves, yet again about to get herself out of a mess one of her boys created. She hadn’t thought the sarcastic, aggressively prim and proper boy would be the one to do this and yet here she was, joining the ranks of Barry and Cisco (who had found himself removing the cobwebs from his laptop for _days_ ) as she submerged her hand into the jelly and pulled out the by now utterly useless stapler.  
  
She stared at Hartley for a few minutes, and just stood there, angrily holding a stapler while little droplets of jelly made small splatting sounds as they hit the floor. Eventually Hartley looked up, raised an eyebrow at her, and went back to his conversation.  
  
_Un-fucking-beliveable._  
  
Caitlin stomped out of the room, but not before throwing the stapler at Hartley, who yelped loudly. Somehow, she couldn’t quite bring herself to care as she walked away.

* * *

A week later found the team in the Cortex, all of them tense and wary, waiting for something, _anything_ to happen. Cisco’s eye was twitching, Barry had taken to repeatedly phasing through a pair of handcuffs, Caitlin was tapping her nails against the console, Dr Wells (who had been locked in a room with only Halloween music for company last week) was fiddling with his glasses.  
  
And then there was _Hartley_. Hartley who was happily curled up in a corner, apparently writing an article for a Spanish science blog. Hartley who was totally calm.  
  
The team collectively twitched.  
  
“It’s _totally_ him.” Cisco growled. Dr Wells nodded  
  
“However, it _is_ unlike him not to be gloating.” He stated. Just then Hartley looked up  
  
“Uh…can I help you?” He asked quietly. The team glared at him. “Okay?”  
  
He got up, clearly unnerved by their behaviour, and began to walk out, just as he opened the door, hundreds of tiny plastic spiders fell from a bucket precariously balanced on the other side of the door. The team blinked, Hartley shrieked as he jumped away, swearing in all six languages while he scrambled away from the fake arachnids.  
  
“Ay _carajo_ , what is _wrong_ with you people?” He squeaked, shaking violently as he glared at them. Barry blinked  
  
“So it’s _not_ Hartley?” He asked blankly. Dr Wells frowned as he gave the quivering man a once over  
  
“No, it’s not.” He replied, before smiling smugly “Hartley is _terrified_ of spiders.”  
  
“Yeah, thanks for that vital info, Captain Obvious.” Hartley scowled at him. Cisco frowned at the team  
  
“Just sayin’, whoever did this is totally banned from movie night. _And_ we’re gonna watch Hocus Pocus.” He remarked, disappointment etched into his face.  
  
“How am I getting more of a Dad vibe from Cisco than you?” Barry wondered as he shook his head at Dr Wells, who shrugged before wheeling off. Barry sighed deeply and after a quick burst of lightning, the spiders were safely back in their bucket, he glanced around at the team, regarding them all with suspicion  
  
“Okay, now my money’s on Caitlin.” He remarked, walking off. Caitlin’s eyes widened as she began to stalk after him  
  
“ _Excuse_ _me?_ How _dare_ you, Barry Allen-”  
  
Hartley raised an eyebrow as he watched Cisco sidle up to him, a huge grin spreading across his face. He threw an arm around Hartley and ruffled his hair, cheerfully ignoring the offended screech “We are the _best_.” He stated smugly.  
  
“That we are, Cisquito.” Hartley replied happily. He then turned, and with a fistful of Cisco’s shirt added “Although if you _ever_ try to use spiders against me again I _will_ castrate you without hesitation.”  
  
“Okay.” Cisco squeaked. Hartley smiled pleasantly and let him go “Damn, why’d you never get like that with Dr Wells? You _actually_ hate him, wait, you don’t hate _me_ , do you? Cause then-”  
  
“Because I’d go to jail, y’know how long someone as sarcastic as me would last in jail? _Such_ a long time.” Hartley sneered. “And…I don’t hate you.”  
  
Cisco smiled  
  
“I don’t hate you either.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and kudos!


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